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Scaup Sound Recordings Provo UT

Local resource for scaup sound recordings in Provo, UT. Includes detailed information on local businesses that provide access to scaup sound recordings, scaup song recordings, and scaup bird houses, as well as advice and content on attracting scaups, scaup feeders, scaup types, and scaup descriptions.

Greater Scaup

Greater Scaup

Aythya marila L 18" (46 cm)

Photo by Maslowski Wildlife Productions.

Listen to a greater scaup.

Male scaup are easily recognized by their white sides and black heads. Females are brown with a large white patch at the base of the bill. Both have a distinctive blue bill, which gives rise to a name commonly used by hunters-the blue bill. Telling the two scaup apart requires a close look at the head shape, and, in flight, the wing stripe. Greaters have more rounded heads and a longer wing stripe. They are more coastal in winter, favoring less sheletered and saltier water. They are generally scarce inland except on their northern Canadian breeding grounds, but occasionally can be found in flocks of lesser scaup. Greaters feed throughout the day, diving for mollusks and grass seeds, but plants make up only a small part of the diet in winter. Silent most of the year, the calls are nearly identical to those of lesser scaup. Recent studies suggest that the population may have declined significantly in recent decades, but the cause is not known.

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Aythya affinis L 16 ½ " (42 cm)

Photo by Maslowski Wildlife Productions.

Listen to a lesser scaup.

Male scaup are easily recognized by their white sides and black heads. Females are brown with a large white patch at the base of the bill. Both have a distinctive blue bill which gives rise to a name commonly used by hunters-the blue bill. Telling the two scaup apart requires a close look at the head shape, and, in flight the wing stripe. Lessers have a more pointed head and a shorter wing stripe. The lesser is the more inland of the two, found on lakes, ponds, rivers, and bays throughout the continent in migration and in the southern half of the United States in winter. In coastal areas it favors more sheltered water than greater scaup. Flocks tend to be inactive most of the day, feeding most commonly early in the morning. Lesser scaup feed by diving for various underwater plant seeds and mollusks. The birds dive by leaping forward, and an actively feeding flock is almost impossible to count accurately. They are almost entirely silent except on the breeding grounds in Canada, where the males gives a series of weak, rapid whistles.

Local resource for woodpecker birdhouses in Provo, UT. Includes detailed information on local businesses that provide access to woodpecker birdhouses, birdhouses, bird feeders, bird house plans, and bird house designs, as well as advice and content on bird house building, attracting birds, and bird house kids.